MSN talks up new spam tools

The new tool, which is being released as part of an upgrade to MSN's hotmail service, prevents images within emails from loading unless the sender is listed in the receiver's contact list.

The company said that some spam messages include so-called 'web beacon' images that send a message back to the sender when the receiver opens the message, allowing spammers to distinguish active email accounts from inactive ones. The upgrade will enable consumers to manually open images once they have reviewed the contents of the email.

MSN claims it already blocks 2.4bn spam email messages every day, representing about 80% of the email messages that reach MSN servers. The company recently added technology that stops people who send spam from creating email accounts.

It also teamed up with rivals Yahoo! and AOL last month in an effort to combine their individual anti-spam efforts into a more unified industry wide approach.

The issue is becoming this year's hot topic with AOL publicising legal action against spammers and Yahoo! yesterday launching an anti-spam day under the title Dunk the Junk.

28 April 2003:

25 April 2003:

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